Introduction to Design

by Pipes, Alan

• ISBN13: 9780131841062
• ISBN10: 0131841068
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: Pearson College Div

Summary

From the author of Production for Graphic Designers 3e, this book provides an engaging introduction to the fundamentals of art and design. With a wide range of illustrations, Alan Pipes demonstrates in Part 1 (Elements) how an artist or designer fills a blank canvas, nothingness, with points, lines, shapes, textures, and colors in order to create a sense of space, time, and motion. Part 2 (Rules) reveals how to develop unity and harmony, balance, scale, and proportion, contrast and emphasis, and rhythm-all in the quest for a satisfying illusion. In addition, the author demonstrates his formidable knowledge of computer-aided art and design, supplementing it with his own color or black-white diagrams. This book is ideal for students embarking on courses in graphic design, fine art, and illustration-as well as allied courses in interior design, fashion design, textile design, industrial design, product design, and printmaking.

Table of Contents

Preface	8	(5)
Part 1 ELEMENTS	13	(160)
Prologue Nothingness	14	(3)
Points and Lines	17	(24)
Introduction	18	(4)
Points	22	(2)
Types of Line	24	(2)
Line Direction	26	(4)
Box---De Stijl: Netherlands, 1917-1932	27	(3)
Line Quality	30	(2)
Lines and Outlines---Describing Shapes	32	(2)
Box---Pop Art: England and America, 1950-1970s	33	(1)
Contours, Wireframes, and Freeform Gesture	34	(2)
Lines as Value---Cross-Hatching and Screening	36	(2)
Imaginary Lines---Lost and Found Edges	38	(3)
Box---Cubism: France, 1907-1914	39	(1)
Exercises	39	(2)
Shape	41	(20)
Introduction	42	(6)
Geometric and Rectilinear Shapes	48	(2)
Curvilinear and Biomorphic Shapes	50	(2)
Box---Art Nouveau: France, Worldwide 1890-1914	51	(1)
Abstract and Non-representational Shapes	52	(2)
Positive and Negative Shapes	54	(2)
Distortion and Idealism	56	(5)
Box---The Renaissance: Italy, 14th to 16th Century	57	(2)
Exercises	59	(2)
Texture	61	(18)
Introduction	62	(4)
Tactile Texture	66	(2)
Collage	68	(4)
Box---Dada: Germany and Paris, 1916-1922	70	(2)
Visual Texture	72	(2)
Trompe L'oeil	74	(2)
Pattern	76	(3)
Exercises	77	(2)
Space---Creating the Illusion of Depth	79	(32)
Introduction	80	(6)
Space---Shallow and Deep	86	(2)
Size Cues	88	(2)
Linear Perspective	90	(4)
One-point perspective	94	(2)
Two-point perspective	96	(2)
Three-point perspective	98	(2)
Amplified and Aerial Perspective	100	(2)
Metric Projections	102	(4)
Open and Closed Compositions	106	(2)
Spatial Confusion	108	(3)
Exercises	109	(2)
Time and Motion	111	(14)
Introduction	112	(4)
Anticipated Motion	116	(2)
Repeated Figures	118	(2)
Multiple Images	120	(2)
Box---Futurism: Italy, 1909-1916	120	(2)
Motion Blur	122	(3)
Box---Abstract Expressionism: America, 1940s-1960s	123	(1)
Exercises	123	(2)
Value	125	(18)
Introduction	126	(6)
Patterns of Value	132	(2)
Chiaroscuro---Light and Shade	134	(4)
Digital Shading and Lighting	138	(5)
Exercises	141	(2)
Color	143	(30)
Introduction	144	(4)
Box---Impressionism: France, 1867-1886	147	(1)
What Is Color?	148	(2)
Color Characteristics	150	(2)
Color Theory---Wheels, Triangles, and Trees	152	(2)
Box---Bauhaus: Germany, 1919-1933	152	(2)
Color Through the Ages	154	(4)
Color Printing, Computers, and the Web	158	(2)
Color Interactions	160	(2)
Color Schemes	162	(4)
Using Color	166	(4)
Warm and cool	167	(1)
Emphasis	167	(1)
Visual balance	168	(1)
Space and depth	168	(1)
Value	169	(1)
Box---Fauvism: France, 1905-1908	169	(1)
The Meaning of Color	170	(3)
Exercises	171	(2)
Part 2 RULES	173	(81)
Unity and Harmony	175	(16)
Introduction	176	(4)
Thematic Unity	180	(2)
Gestalt and Visual Unity	182	(2)
The Grid	184	(2)
Achieving Unity	186	(5)
Exercises	189	(2)
Balance	191	(20)
Introduction	192	(4)
Formal and Informal Balance	196	(2)
Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Balance	198	(2)
Balance by Shape and Texture	200	(2)
Balance by Position and Eye Direction	202	(2)
Radial Balance	204	(2)
Balance by Value and Color	206	(2)
Crystallographic Balance	208	(3)
Exercises	209	(2)
Scale and Proportion	211	(16)
Introduction	212	(4)
Human Scale	216	(4)
Contrast and Confusion	220	(2)
Ideal Proportion	222	(5)
Exercises	225	(2)
Contrast and Emphasis	227	(16)
Introduction	228	(4)
Contrast	232	(2)
Isolation	234	(2)
Placement	236	(2)
Absence of Focal Point	238	(5)
Exercises	241	(2)
Rhythm	243	(11)
Introduction	244	(4)
Rhythm and Motion	248	(2)
Alternating and Progressive Rhythm	250	(2)
Rhythmic Sensation	252	(2)
Exercises	253	(1)
Glossary	254	(8)
Bibliography	262	(2)
Web Resources	264	(1)
Picture Credits	265	(2)
Index	267

Excerpts

"Reason informed by emotion... expressed in beauty... elevated by earnestness... lightened by humor... that is the ideal that should guide all artists." - CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH What is art? Art is what artists do, Dadaist Marcel Duchamp might have said. Art is what you can get away with, you may be tempted to think when looking at contemporary artworks. The word art derives from Sanskrit and means "making" or "creating something". We can only guess why our earliest ancestors started to make art, drawing and carving on cave walls. Egyptian wall paintings and African art have a ritual dimension, but still manage to delight our eyes. The ancient Greeks and Romans surrounded their lives with culture: poetry, theater, sculptures-and paintings, few of which survive. They were probably the first artists who painted purely for pleasure and for the joy their art gave others. Whatever the reasons for creating, art enriches our lives, stimulates our senses, or simply makes us think. Artists have come to be revered for their gift of profound insight into the human condition. In Byzantine and Renaissance times, being an artist was just a job: painters had workshops full of assistants, and artisans making paint and preparing panels and canvases. They generally produced religious artworks for wealthy patrons. It was only in the late nineteenth century that "art for art's sake" began to emerge, art being seen as an expression of the artist's emotions. Since then Hollywood has depicted such artists as Vincent van Gogh and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec as glamorous yet tortured visionaries who suffered for their art, locked away in solitary garrets. Abstract art followed, and today almost anything goes. What is design? Its roots are found in the Italian word disegnare, to create. In these days of designer jeans and kitchens, it is easy to think of design equating to stylish consumer goods or gadgets, made desirable by clever and knowing graphics (which draw ultimately on art for inspiration). We can forget that everything artificial--good or bad--has been designed by someone. In its broadest sense, design is preparing for action: planning and organizing. We might have "designs" on someone, and plan how we can engineer a successful outcome. Architects design buildings, industrial designers design products, and artists design paintings and sculptures. This book looks at design in the easel-based arts, with references to the allied arts of photography and sculpture. By easel arts we mean drawing, painting, and printmaking, in the sense of making marks on paper or canvas, or the screen-based arts: video, computer, and installation-based works. The computer has blurred the boundaries between the traditional creative disciplines, but they all share a need for planning and visual organization. Design can also be considered as a form of problem-solving. But unlike math, in art there is never a single correct solution. This is why artists and designers are often called "creatives." Painters and sculptors often set their own tasks; designers and illustrators are given a brief with strictly defined parameters, and attempt a design based on those constraints. Even in abstract expressionism, where you might imagine that all the artist does is throw a pot of paint at the canvas and hope for the best, there are underlying processes at work. The artist's eye and hand in tandem are guided by a need to produce an outcome, and he or she is informed by the whole history of art up until that point. Chance and randomness do have a place, but serendipity is a better term: you need skill and experience to turn a happy accident to your advantage. It is beyond the scope of this book to provide a comprehensive overview of art history, but there are plenty of other books and web resources--some of which are listed toward the end of this book, should you be inspired to explor